Winter Is Coming
by a singularity in the milky way
Summary: [The Selected Letters OneShot] While Edward announces the selected women in Angeles, Winter Wellford-Wright spends a normal day at university.


**The Selected Letters**

 **Winter Is Coming**

The decision was a hard one.

Actually, it wasn't. Not for Winter Wellfort-Wright (thanks auntie for that name... she loved it) at least - to that redhead, the decision was clear. She wasn't going to skip this. Not once in a million. Even if she had watched it before.

The report, or season 2 episode 6 of _Game of Thrones_.

"..." Winter was leaving the lecture theatre with a clearly made decision in her mind. She usually wasn't that bolt and all (people did say that the report was important to watch et cetera), but when it came to Game of Thrones, Winter was a new person.

She took a seat on one of the benches, pulling out book and a pen, and began to sketch. Her mind wasn't particularly focused on the sketch though. On the other side of the campus, a couple of students were having a fight. What was it about? Who were they? Was it a valid fight? Where they just doing nonsense? Who was in the right?

The redhead was ignored by the passing students. Most of them had seen her watching people by now, and stopped questioning it. Some called it creepy, but they had to admit that if you fight on the campus, some people were going to pay attention. Her people watching was only interrupted by her phone ringing. A disappointed sigh left Winter's lips as she picked it up. Alice Wellford called.

"Winter Wellford-Wright speaking."

"Hey honey," the strong, decided voice of her mother sounded out of the phone.

"What can I do for you?" Winter asked. She was studying at a new but pretty good private university in Allens - meaning she wasn't at home in LA - and usually, her parents left her on her own. Unlike her sisters, Winter never had caused that great trouble.

"I wanted to check on you, honey," Alice Wellford explained. "There's a lot of commotion happening here in LA, and I was wondering how that looks with you. How is university?"

"Aside of the 10 000 words essay due tomorrow, I am fine. A bit stressed, but what else do you expect from university?" She laughed while playing around with her pencil. She yawned.

"Which you have finished, I presume?" her mother laughed.

"Yeah," Winter said with a nod into nothing. "What's happening in LA? The Selection?"

"Yes," her mother replied. "Someone came to your father's work and asked if there's was a way to get their daughter into it through court."

Winter chuckled just like her mother. She wasn't as found of gossip as the real estate mogul, but she was her daughter. "Oh no..."

"He actually thought that that was what Phoenix did," Alice continued.

"When is she coming back from Britain?" Winter asked when the topic fell on her older sister.

"She and her fiancé were considering next month, before it goes into wedding preparations," Alice explained.

"Ah," Winter nodded - she could imagine that with her husband-to-be's fortune, her sister would get a wedding equal of William and Hayley's one.

"What about you? I'm sure some people are going crazy about it."

"Some people got their hands on a lecture theatre and plan to do a group viewing of the report."

"Are you going to join them?"

"Game of Thrones is on tonight," Winter spoke with complain in her voice. Her mother saw the important (probably correctly) as more important than the series.

"Well, do watch it later, darling," Alice requested. "It'll mainly be Selection either way - I suppose that you can skip it."

"Yes," Winter chuckled. "They probably don't want another one of us." Her joke was genuine – not meant to be self-depreciating or anything - but it took her mother a moment to piece it together.

"You signed up?" Alice asked surprised.

"Ah, Yes, I did. Didn't I mention that?"

"No, you conveniently forgot that detail."

"Well, yes, Phoenix told me to. It isn't exactly likely for me to get in. Let alone statistically speaking. Logically too."

"I know," Alice replied. "Well, well, do have fun with your Game of Thrones."

"Anything else?"

"Lucia," her aunt, "asks if you are coming to LA for her birthday."

"Of course I am! Not coming? That's out of question."

"Great, I will tell her," her mother said. "Take care, love."

The connection ended, Winter smiled. She returned back to her sketch – a simple bench that she saw on the other side little path. Students passed by, but most of them – except a few first years, of course – had gotten used to the sight of the redhead sitting on a bench and, apparently, just staring into nowhere. That, or her sketching. Most of them did know to leave her alone. Most did.

"Uh, hi," someone said. Winter looked up to recognise a younger girl – probably first year? – who had stopped next to her. She was holding a book with a French title. She probably took a French course – maybe even as major.

"Hello," Winter responded, looking to the girl with a warm smile. Even though she wasn't too comfortable with being disturbed when doing people watching, she reminded herself that she had no reason to be blunt at the stranger girl.

"The sketch looks really nice," she shyly said.

Winter smiled. "Thank you," she told the stranger. "Can I help you somehow?"

"Uh… Yes," the girl nodded. "I'm looking for the office of Dr Smith."

"Which faculty?" Winter asked. She knew one Dr Smith – she had spoken to him more than three years (maybe four by now? She wasn't sure) ago when she had considered continuing with French. Latin had been a keep, but she hadn't been too sure about the other language. She was decent enough at it – she probably could cope for holidays – but ultimately, she had decided not to take it. Too much work, especially since she was travelling to Angeles a lot.

"French," the girl responded. That was the lecturer she knew – good

"I know that one," Winter told her with a smile. She rose, took her bag and pointed to one of the buildings. "I'll show you the way." Just another day at college – lectures, homework, sketching, first years who didn't get how college worked. A normal day at college that'd end with her favourite TV show. Why her family considered her as _Game of Thrones_ fangirl and nothing else was a mystery to her though.

* . * . *

Winter leaned backwards on her bed, an apple in her hand and her laptop, streaming Game of Thrones, on her knees. She probably was the only one in the dorms that was watching _Game of Thrones_. Even her fellow _Game of Thrones_ fans betrayed her!

Well, having a sister who was part of the Crown Prince's elite made the whole thing a bit boring, Winter thought. She remembered the Selection of her sister, and how excited she had been. Typically Phoenix. Now, she was engaged to British nobility. Not a prince but a duke-to-be. Why not?

She also remembered that the phone hadn't stopped ringing forever. Thank god for their parents' assistants – otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all. All the security, clothes and what not – Winter hadn't minded it that much; it had been nice to follow and all, but it also had been clear how nervous her sister had been.

She had made it so far, but had decided to drop out on her own. The first of the Elite to leave the Selection, on her own accord. By Phoenix' own statement, they just hadn't fit as lovers. Friends, sure, but nothing more. Winter respected her for the decision – she would have expected her to stay for the sake of the luxury and all.

"I should call them at some point," she thought. She hadn't spoken with Phoenix in forever.

As if she called it to happen, her phone ringed. Winter glanced to her desk, and went back to her screen. Game of Thrones or someone from her family? That was her family's ringtone, she realised. She had one for all of them.

"It's nothing new," she thought. "I already saw the episode ten times."

She silenced her computer, placed it aside and rose to take her phone. A photo of Phoenix – from Selection times, she thought – was displayed on the screen. What even was the time in London? It was about nine o'clock, maybe a bit later – so night-time. The next day.

"Winter Wellford-Wright speaking," she said by habit when picking up the phone.

" _Winter!_ " her sister shouted into the phone. "You're coming?!"

"… Pardon me?" Wasn't she the resident Game of Thrones fangirl, and no her sister? For all she knew, her sister had only seen the series because Winter had made her whole family watch it. Plus, Phoenix generally was the type to watch series once and then to forget about them…

"No, I meant that you're going? That's awesome!" Phoenix' voice was cheerful and bright. She almost sounded out of breath. Why was the shout of breath? It was night time!

"Phoenix, _where_ am I going?" Winter interrupted her older sister's rambling.

"The Selection, of course! Hayley just called me. I'm trying to find a recording right now… I haven't see the report. We don't get the public access channel in London, you know."

"The Selection?" She had been selected? "Oh, that's nice."

" _Oh, that's nice?!_ " Phoenix repeated. "Why didn't you tell me that you signed up?"

"I must have forgotten… I didn't expect to be selected either way," she added, before holding up her phone to her ear. She began googling a recording of the report, just like her sister, alongside a newspaper article on the topic. Online, she could find a collection of reports. First comments on who the Selected were, alongside further news on them – the press would probably begin to dig about anything about them.

"But that's so cool!" Phoenix laughed. "My little sister is also a selected!"

"Isn't it night time in Britain?" Winter wondered.

"Yeah," Phoenix said with a voice that conveyed one message – she didn't care, "but I'm alone right now, so who cares? Ave you seen the prince's reaction on you?"

"No, I didn't watch the report," Winter responded. " _Game of Thrones_ was on."

"Ah, I found one… Oh, the prince knocked over your bowl!" Phoenix laughed. "… Oh, and that girl from Waverly – she looks like me! That's so fun! Two redheads! Did I tell you that Hayley thought that that was me?"

"No?" Winter began to think. Her sister hadn't mentioned the Princess, hadn't she? Just that she called… But now, that Winter saw the images of the thirty-five girls, she did recognise the extreme similarities between Phoenix and Juniper. The photo almost could have been Phoenix, huh?

"Well, Hayley called me and asked if I signed up under a new name. Also because she vaguely remembered that my sister's name is Winter. Where are you?"

"University dorms."

"Aah, okay. That explains why you're Allens," Phoenix responded. "So? Tell me!"

"… About what? Phoenix, you're the one to tell me – I wasn't watching. Plus, you know the whole procedure."

"Yes, yes, I do…" Phoenix stopped. Probably remembering the Selection she had been part of, Winter thought. A moment of silence filled the conversation, allowing Winter to her the students talking loudly in the common room. They probably figured out, she thought.

"I think the others in the dorm want an answer on the Selection thing," Winter commented. "I'll call you later."

The instant she ended the call, another by an unknown number came in. The caller soon turned out to be from the palace. Well, Winter's friends could wait. They could wait for the next _Game of Thrones_ book too.

"Winter Wellford-Wright speaking," she spoke into the phone – a sentence that she'd repeat a lot in the following days. But hey! Winter was coming to the palace!


End file.
